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New High-Def Home Video From The Edge of Space
MIT Students Explain How to Photograph Space for $150

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Jake712
09/24/09

In reply to New High-Def Home Video From The Edge of Space
Tremendously cool, if somewhat vomit inducing.
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invictus2006
09/24/09

In reply to New High-Def Home Video From The Edge of Space
makes me wish if man could only stop fighting over pathatic wars & think more about trying to reach for the stars :( oh well one can only dream.
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GitEmSteveDave_ForgotNametag
09/24/09

@invictus2006: Yes. If only we could have some kind of station in space, assembled with the labors and materials of more than one nation. An International Space Station, if you would.

No, such a thing could never exist! Anyone who believes it could is talking crazy and needs their heads examined!
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invictus2006
09/24/09

@GitEmSteveDave_woot'sOffSoHard: The ISS is cool and every thing but its to small scale. The amount of money spent on "war" could be used for research and space travel, eventually this world is going to become over populated & is most likely going to run out of resources & then man is well and truly fucked! Maybe not in my life time but definitely somewhere down the line. Unless people start thinking ahead and not of now...humanity is doomed :(
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valkilmerisawful
09/24/09

@invictus2006: Wow, yeh that's the message I wanted to see with my morning coffee.
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invictus2006
09/24/09

@valkilmerisawful: Lol! its almost night here!
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invictus2006
09/24/09

@invictus2006: wheres the Edit button? *pathetic
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GitEmSteveDave_ForgotNametag
09/24/09

@invictus2006: You DO realize that out of war comes science. What came first, the Saturn or the V2? And what was the purpose of the V2? [en.wikipedia.org]
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GitEmSteveDave_ForgotNametag
09/24/09

In reply to New High-Def Home Video From The Edge of Space
Any chance Red would let them borrow a cam now? THAT would be sweet.

I also wonder if you could point the camera up or down, and make a cheap lens/mirror set up to record 360 degrees around the box, so you could do a panorama. Also mount the damn box on a swivel, to reduce the spinning and "Blair Witch/Cloverfield Effect".
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Edited by GitEmSteveDave_ForgotNametag at 09/24/09 8:24 AM

JayhawkJake
09/24/09

@GitEmSteveDave_woot'sOffSoHard: When we fly balloons here at KU, we've pointed a camera up to observe balloon dynamics, actually we did it once symply to see what happens to a two balloon system. It's interesting to say the least, however, our camera isn't the best so it seems to get over exposed high up. I believe we have a new camera, hopefully we can get some good video this year. I'll give you props for the idea of a swivel, but the box would spin on its own from the wind even if it wasnt spinning with the balloon
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GitEmSteveDave_ForgotNametag
09/24/09

@JayhawkJake: Small gyro? How about pointing down with a fisheye type lens? Then you should get the over exposed effect, I would think. Also, if it was pointed down, and had a semi ballistic shape that would keep it pointing down instead of tumbling as it fell, I think that would make some nice picts,
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JayhawkJake
09/24/09

@GitEmSteveDave_woot'sOffSoHard: A ballistic shape might not keep it pointing down at those altitudes, the air is very thin, but it might work. Pointing down would work fine, and we probably wouldn't have the problems we had before, but then again, the point of having the camera looking up is to observe the balloon. If you didn't know, what happens to the balloons is very interesting: as the air becomes less dense, they get bigger. Much bigger actually, and it's neat to observe this phenomena. Also, when dealing with 2 balloons as we plan to do with our rocket, it is useful to know how they act around each other. We were able to observe that at low altitudes the balloons stay as far away from each other as possible, but as the air thins they start getting closer and then freely move around each other. We've discussed why they act the way they do and have good reasoning for it, and we also now know that a twin balloon system will be a perfectly safe way to increase our payload capacity.
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GitEmSteveDave_ForgotNametag
09/24/09

@JayhawkJake: Yeah, I knew they expand, which is why they eventually burst. As for the shape, I was thinking how the old space capsules didn't tumble coming in, and had the shield always pointing down. Don't know if that could be duplicated.

I was mostly saying about the pointing down to get a better shot with possibly a panoramic/360 degree lens system.

Just my pie in the sky hopes.
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trevisol: Stop putting words in my mouth
09/24/09

In reply to New High-Def Home Video From The Edge of Space
I'm getting this going with the science teachers at the middle school where I work. The one thing that they never mention in these articles is if they use a parachute for the projectile, err, satellite.

My biggest fear is that it's going to come crashing down at 100mph on I-95 and kill somebody.
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GitEmSteveDave_ForgotNametag
09/24/09

@trevisol: Uhhhhhhh, did you even click on the links in the article? I'm guessing the purple and while circle shaped thing attached with strings isn't a funky flag.
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Yarr!
09/24/09

@trevisol: They use parachutes. Think it is deployed halfway down cause parachutes have to be pretty damn big to be effective at 100 000 ft.
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trevisol: Stop putting words in my mouth
09/24/09

@GitEmSteveDave_woot'sOffSoHard: No I didn't have time to read the article about the video one. I saw a different picture of the MIT kids' project, and I saw a parachute there, attached the same way i would've done it, which is cool.

I don't think we're going to be able to do it here. i can see it either being crushed on one of our many highways in suburban Broward county, or going in the ocean.
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ELPARTO
09/24/09

@Yarr!: I think it came out right away. I believe the guy holding the balloon earlier, set it on top of the foam cooler as it was taking off. But yeah, not very effective at 10kft, that thing was all over the place.
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GitEmSteveDave_ForgotNametag
09/24/09

@ELPARTO: As they state in the article, the lines for the parachute became entangled with the lines and shards of the balloon after it burst. You can see it in the picture above.
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Curves
09/24/09

In reply to New High-Def Home Video From The Edge of Space
I love that they named it Icarus. Very cool.
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pevans34
09/17/09

In reply to MIT Students Explain How to Photograph Space for $150
This story just emblazoned the image in my mind of "space blimps", and mustached pirates armed with steam powered single shot rifles... in space
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Sticks Calhoun
09/24/09

@pevans34: ...Last Exile?
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MrBlahBlah
09/14/09

In reply to MIT Students Explain How to Photograph Space for $150
this is cool, but can't launch from a coast, since there's a good chance it'll end up in the water
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Kaiser-Machead
09/14/09

In reply to MIT Students Explain How to Photograph Space for $150
If this sort of thing becomes a growing trend, I fear our metahuman citizens that zoom through the upper atmosphere to stop evil madmen from destroying the earth will have a serious issue with debris.
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UgoKliker
09/14/09

In reply to MIT Students Explain How to Photograph Space for $150
Yeah, but wait for Homeland Security to pay them a visit. Just musing, but with the cheapness, and the ability to move a payload 20 miles, don't you think that this could be a viable method for drug trafficer's to move small loads of coke or other valuable cargo across the border. They could track the shipment, and have people in place to retrieve it. No need for chancing the border inspections. Come to think of it, rocketry would have its uses also.

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anon
09/14/09

@UgoKliker: They already smuggle drugs and cash this way.
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chauncy that billups
09/14/09

@craighyatt: Either that or they are smuggling lots and lots of big balloons. Wouldn't be too concealed though...
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anon
09/14/09

In reply to MIT Students Explain How to Photograph Space for $150
That is wicked cool! It occurs to me that if you were willing to use disposable parts and sacrifice picture quality, you could strip down a pay-as-you-go camera cellphone and hack it (java app) to MMS or email photos back to a server. Strip off the case and extra stuff to save weight. You could probably add some cheap telemetry like temperature and pressure through the accessory port... take a look at www.sparkfun.com for sensors. Just sacrifice the phone... if anybody finds it and tries to make calls you are only out whatever the cost of the phonecard. That idea eliminates GPS and the recovery cycle to make the whole thing cheaper. You might get away with conventional balloons for a test flight given the reduced payload, but I expect you'd need a weather balloon for the kind of altitude these guys achieved. Anyway, just a sketch of an idea for any aspiring middle-schoolers out there. :)
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NurseDave
09/14/09

@craighyatt: Woohoo! Launch your shit and leave your trash just where it lands. Perfect.
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anon
09/14/09

@NurseDave: pffft. yeah, like it's going to make a diff.
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Hello Mister Walrus
09/14/09

In reply to MIT Students Explain How to Photograph Space for $150
Why didn't they just use a monkey with an oxygen canister?
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FrankenPC
09/14/09

@Hello Mister Walrus: In Russia, the monkey makes humans go in rocketship.
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JayhawkJake
09/14/09

In reply to MIT Students Explain How to Photograph Space for $150
I've done two or three of these kinds of launches, I'm president of a club at the University of Kansas that does these. We are going to be launching a rocket from a balloon hopefully by the end of this year. It's nice that they did it for cheap, but the only real place they save much money is radios. We use insulating foam and mylar to build our boxes.
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wingbatwu
09/14/09

In reply to MIT Students Explain How to Photograph Space for $150
I would launch at night to see more stars, or maybe a "sunset"
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deliciousburglar
09/14/09

@wingbatwu: while a nice idea, i don't think there would be enough light for the camera.
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switchblade saints
09/14/09

@deliciousburglar: use a flash.

/sacasm
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wingbatwu
09/14/09

@deliciousburglar: a sunset would still be cool, also maybe on a night with a full moon.
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Curves
09/14/09

In reply to MIT Students Explain How to Photograph Space for $150
This is why I want to go to MIT when I grow up.
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FrankenPC
09/14/09

@Curves: I used to think the same thing. Then, as I approached 40, I realized I may never grow up.
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Curves
09/14/09

@FrankenPC: We have no control (outside death) of getting older, but we can certainly keep our immaturity as long as we want.
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ELPARTO
09/14/09

In reply to MIT Students Explain How to Photograph Space for $150
Hm, I actually do feel like dumping $150 on this. I can print the pictures and put them in my bathroom. Then when people use the bathroom and come back and wonder what website I got those awesome space pictures from...I can tell them they were mine.
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Phong
09/14/09

@ELPARTO: good call but why the bathroom? Perhaps over the fire place would be more of a conversation starter. I wouldn't want people making bathroom faces at my hard work. Although I do see me putting my diploma in the bathroom just for kicks.
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InsidiousTuna
09/14/09

@Mess Yo Self!: Diploma goes right over the toilet for that extra touch of class.
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ELPARTO
09/14/09

@Mess Yo Self!: Oh, if I've found anything it's that sticking pictures in the bathroom is a great conversation starter.

For instance, I have a creepy picture of Thomas Edison currently in there. It used to sit on my desk while I was in college, but when I moved into this place there was a nail in the bathroom wall...and I just happened to be holding the picture at the time.

Everyone asks me about it when they're done doing their business. Especially women since it faces opposite the toilet.
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ELPARTO
09/14/09

@Mess Yo Self!: It's this picture BTW
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